A $2bn LNG-fuelled power plant planned for Vietnam’s Thai Binh province is on track to break ground in the fourth quarter of 2025, Vietnamese business outlet The Investor reports.

The facility is being developed by Thai Binh LNG Power, a consortium made up of two Japanese utilities, Tokyo Gas and Kyushu Electric Power, and Vietnamese industrial conglomerate Truong Thanh Vietnam Group.

The project was first announced in January last year, after the consortium formed at the Vietnam–Japan Economic Forum in Tokyo during Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh’s visit to Japan in December 2023.

When complete in 2030, the plant is expected to contribute 1.5GW to Vietnam’s grid.

Thai Binh is now negotiating a power purchase agreement with state utility Vietnam Electricity.

Prime Minister Pham urged the Ministry of Industry and Trade to work with provincial authorities to bring the project online ahead of the 2030 target.

The feasibility study into Thai Binh is expected to finish in the second quarter; site preparation work has already begun.

Although the project will use fossil fuel, it will have “advanced and environmentally friendly technology” to prevent the release of sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere.

As well as the Thai Binh plant, Vietnam is working on a similar project in Quang Ninh, about 40km northeast of Haiphong.

The Vietnamese economy is one of the world’s fastest growing, but demand for electricity is increasing more quickly still. It rose 11% between 2023 and 2024.

In 2023 the country experienced blackouts that halted operations at a Samsung factory and caused some $1.3bn in losses.

Those outages were partly the result of extreme weather, but a lack of electricity threatens to constrain development – hence the government’s urging to increase capacity as quickly as possible.